Chapter 12
chapter
twelve
Tobias tasted like coconut water and the gummy vitamins Alexander had taken from his own cupboard.
Like me, Alexander thought, dazed. He tastes like me.
Then Tobias licked deeper into Alexander’s mouth and the taste faded into nothing but spit.
Tobias reached up from the couch and took Alexander’s face in his hands. His touch was so warm it made Alexander forget what cold was. He forgot about monsters and hunters, about wolves and prey. The world narrowed down to Tobias and his sweet, scarred lips.
They broke apart, panting.
Tobias nuzzled his cheek with a throaty chuckle. “Shit. Should’ve done that in front of those guards. Really given them a show.”
The memory made Alexander’s stomach lurch: half-pleasure, half-embarrassment. He didn’t want to think about that distraction kiss. He didn’t want to think about anything outside this room. He only got Tobias for a short time, and he wanted to enjoy it.
“I don’t want a show,” Alexander admitted, hunched over Tobias on the couch. “I want…”
He couldn’t say it. His cheeks burned infuriatingly. He suddenly felt the same as when Tobias was hissing at him in the superstore, demanding Alexander say what he really wanted. It wasn’t that he’d been refusing to tell him. He just didn’t have the words. Even thinking them felt like a betrayal.
Alexander looked away. “Don’t make me say it.”
He waited for Tobias to laugh again. The silence stretched.
Tobias rubbed a gentle thumb down his cheek. “Hey. C’mere.”
Alexander barely had time to look up before he was being pulled into Tobias’s lap, which was still covered by the thin sheet Alexander found in Tobias’s bedroom. Alexander had to catch himself on Tobias’s bare chest, fingers flexing in the coarse hair.
“Whatever you want, you can have it.” Tobias leaned up, pressing kisses from Alexander’s sharp cheekbone to his arched neck. The touch was unbearably soft, like they were lovers who had known each other a long time.
Alexander’s eyes prickled unexpectedly. He couldn’t do this if Tobias was going to be so sweet about it.
His soul is dust, he reminded himself. It was a deeply uncomfortable thought. He didn’t let himself dwell on why.
He pushed Tobias back against the couch. “I want you to show me how much you want me.”
Tobias’s eyes darkened. He smiled, loose and distracted, like having Alexander in his lap was making it difficult to think.
“Oh yeah?” Tobias said.
Alexander nodded, ignoring the heat growing in his cheeks. “You’re always…getting close. Smelling me. Last night you couldn’t keep your hands off me. You were like—”
“An animal,” Tobias said quietly.
Alexander swallowed. It sounded like an insult. For a moment it seemed Tobias would take it as one, his smile dimming.
Then Tobias hitched Alexander’s legs around his waist and stood so fast Alexander got lightheaded.
Tobias marched forward and pressed Alexander into the front door. The sheet tumbled off him, leaving him in nothing but shredded boxers as he held Alexander there, his nose skimming Alexander’s neck.
“You sure about that?” Tobias murmured. “’Cause I want you pretty fucking bad, babe.”
Alexander shivered. He couldn’t stop thinking about last night: Tobias had him in this exact same position, shuddering with the imminent transformation. Alexander hoped they’d both been thinking of this amid all the panic.
“Prove it,” Alexander said.
Tobias growled. His grip tightened on Alexander’s thighs, his bulk pressing Alexander harder into the door.
Alexander should have been scared. He should have at least been wary. And he was, a little. But it was a spark compared to the wildfire that ignited inside him as Tobias pressed closer, the hard line of his bare cock grinding against Alexander’s denim-clad crotch.
Tobias pulled back with a hiss, letting Alexander’s feet drop to the floor. “Okay, that stings. Gotta get you out of these.”
He pulled off Alexander’s clothes. He did it slowly, pointedly, like he was giving Alexander a chance to change his mind.
Alexander knew he should take it. But he let Tobias strip him leaving his neat clothes in a crumpled heap on the worn carpet.
Then Tobias knelt to undo his ankle holster, and flinched with a grimace.
“Ow,” Tobias said. “Shit.”
Alexander looked down. Tobias had his finger in his mouth, glaring at the jawbone knife in Alexander’s ankle holster. He’d started to undo it, then been burned by the flat of the silver blade. Alexander cursed himself for not thinking of it, too distracted by Tobias’s heady presence.
“I’ll get it.” Alexander bent down, unfastened the holster, and threw it into the pile of clothes he’d never left on the floor since he bought them.
“Thanks.” Tobias took his ankle and kissed the spot where the holster had been. Then he grabbed Alexander around the hips and dragged him down onto the carpet, burying his face in Alexander’s neck.
“You smell like my soap,” Tobias said, muffled.
Alexander wanted to say something smart.
But Tobias was such a wonderful weight on top of him, grinding against his thigh.
He had more scars than Alexander realized, even with all he’d glimpsed through his torn clothes after a transformation: claw mark after claw mark slashing over his chest, his hips, his legs and back, and the tender crooks of his elbows.
Alexander sucked Tobias’s lower lip, tasting that scar like he’d wanted to do ever since Tobias walked up to the counter for the first time.
Tobias made a rumbling noise against his mouth. Not quite a growl, but not quite a whine. He kept tightening and loosening his grip around Alexander’s waist, like he had to stop himself from using all his werewolf strength on the human below him.
“Show me,” Alexander said, his voice embarrassingly breathy. “Show me, you said you would.”
Tobias laughed, loud and disbelieving. He grabbed Alexander’s hands, which had been exploring the scarred plains of his back, and pinned them above his head.
Then he paused. “How’s your shoulder?”
“What?” Alexander twisted to look at the scabbing stab wound Tobias had given him last week. The bandage was off, the stitches newly removed. It was twinging badly, but Alexander didn’t care about a little pain right now.
“It’s fine,” Alexander assured him. “Keep going.”
Tobias made a dubious noise into his neck. But his grip was still spasming, his breath ragged as he inhaled Alexander’s scent.
“Smell so good,” Tobias panted. “God, you smell fucking perfect.”
Alexander laughed breathlessly, squirming against his grip just to feel Tobias press him down harder.
“What do I smell like?” he breathed. “I can’t just smell clean.”
Tobias mumbled something Alexander didn’t catch. Then he reached down and took Alexander’s cock in his hand, stroking him slowly.
Alexander threw his head back, a groan forcing between his teeth.
It was just Tobias’s hand, but he felt it in every inch of his body.
Not like the awkward, distracted hand jobs he’d had in bar bathrooms before this, where he’d had to focus on the physical pleasure, and not the guy or the dirty bathroom, to orgasm.
He didn’t have to ignore anything now. Everything about the situation—Tobias whining into his neck, his scarred hand, the heavy weight of him, even the rough carpet against Alexander’s bare back—sent Alexander closer and closer toward climax.
But not over that edge. Tobias kept his pumping too slow for that, teasing the slit in a way that made Alexander whimper.
“Tobias,” Alexander managed. “Shit. Tobias!”
He tried to buck up against him. Tobias pressed him back into the carpet, his grip slowing even further.
“Please,” Alexander heard himself say. “Please, god, please.”
Tobias shushed him, still rutting lazily against his thigh. “You said to show you. Do you know how many times I’ve imagined you like this, all helpless under me? Can’t do anything but lie there and take what I give you. Does it feel good, baby?”
Alexander moaned. He’d spent the last three years trying so hard to keep everything under control. It felt shockingly good to let someone else take over. So good it made him worry how he was going to deal with a lifetime without this after he went back home.
Tobias pressed his thumb under his cockhead, teasing a vein. Suddenly Alexander couldn’t worry about anything except his impending orgasm. It was just out of reach, building and building so hot in his cock he thought he might burn up when it finally happened.
“Please,” Alexander begged. “Please let me—”
He bit his lip. He might have asked Tobias to take over, but he still had a modicum of restraint.
Then Tobias spoke, and all that restraint melted.
“Don’t stop,” Tobias told him. “You beg so pretty. Do it again and maybe I’ll let you come.”
“Please,” Alexander blurted, shaking with need. A part of him was disappointed that Tobias had reduced him to this so quickly, but it was easy to ignore when Tobias was finally speeding up.
Alexander cried out as he came, shooting his come between their bodies. It was so intense his eyes burned with tears, his hips jerking uselessly against Tobias’s firm hold.
“Fuck,” Tobias said. He kissed Alexander hard then sat up, letting go of Alexander’s wrists and straddling his waist.
Alexander’s wrists felt cold without Tobias holding them. He made a pitiful noise, reaching up to drag him back. Then he saw Tobias fisting his own cock and stilled.
Tobias groaned, tipping his head back. He looked like a work of art: his heaving chest glistening under the thick hair, his stomach shuddering with effort as he jerked himself.
His scars were beautiful. Alexander had never thought scars were beautiful before he’d seen them on Tobias, who made absolutely everything beautiful: slouchy hoodies and baggy sweatpants and messy hair.
Even his growl was beautiful, ripping out of his throat as he gazed down at Alexander with half-lidded eyes.
“You look so fucking good like this,” Tobias said. “All messed up. All mine.”